Niche divergence builds the case for ecological speciation in skinks of the Plestiodon skiltonianus species complex
Guinevere O.U. Wogan, Jonathan Q. Richmond
2015, Ecology and Evolution (5) 4683-4695
Adaptation to different thermal environments has the potential to cause evolutionary changes that are sufficient to drive ecological speciation. Here, we examine whether climate-based niche divergence in lizards of the Plestiodon skiltonianus species complex is consistent with the outcomes of such a process. Previous work on this group shows that...
Hydrology of and Current Monitoring Issues for the Chicago Area Waterway System, Northeastern Illinois
James J. Duncker, Kevin K. Johnson
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5115
The Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) consists of a combination of natural and manmade channels that form an interconnected navigable waterway of approximately 90-plus miles in the metropolitan Chicago area of northeastern Illinois. The CAWS serves the area as the primary drainage feature, a waterway transportation corridor, and recreational waterbody....
The Chesapeake Bay impact structure
David S. Powars, Lucy E. Edwards, Gregory S. Gohn, J. Wright Horton Jr.
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3071
About 35 million years ago, during late Eocene time, a 2-mile-wide asteroid or comet smashed into Earth in what is now the lower Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. The oceanic impact vaporized, melted, fractured, and (or) displaced the target rocks and sediments and sent billions of tons of water, sediments, and...
Large-scale range collapse of Hawaiian forest birds under climate change and the need 21st century conservation options
Lucas B. Fortini, Adam E. Vorsino, Fred A. Amidon, Eben H. Paxton, James D. Jacobi
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Hawaiian forest birds serve as an ideal group to explore the extent of climate change impacts on at-risk species. Avian malaria constrains many remaining Hawaiian forest bird species to high elevations where temperatures are too cool for malaria's life cycle and its principal mosquito vector. The impact of climate change...
Simulating maize yield and bomass with spatial variability of soil field capacity
Liwang Ma, Lajpat Ahuja, Thomas Trout, Bernard T. Nolan, Robert W. Malone
2015, Agronomy Journal (108) 171-184
Spatial variability in field soil properties is a challenge for system modelers who use single representative values, such as means, for model inputs, rather than their distributions. In this study, the root zone water quality model (RZWQM2) was first calibrated for 4 yr of maize (Zea mays L.) data at six...
Flood-Inundation Maps for the North River in Colrain, Charlemont, and Shelburne, Massachusetts, From the Confluence of the East and West Branch North Rivers to the Deerfield River
Gardner C. Bent, Pamela J. Lombard, Robert W. Dudley
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5108
A series of 10 digital flood-inundation maps were developed for a 3.3-mile reach of the North River in Colrain, Charlemont, and Shelburne, Massachusetts, by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The coverage of the maps extends from the confluence of the East and West...
Geologic map of Kundelan ore deposits and prospects, Zabul Province, Afghanistan; modified from the 1971 original map compilations of K.I. Litvinenko and others
Robert D. Tucker, Stephen G. Peters, Will R. Stettner, Linda M. Masonic, Thomas W. Moran
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1198
This map and cross sections are redrafted modified versions of the Geological map of the Kundelan ore deposit area, scale 1:10,000 (graphical supplement no. 18) and the Geological map of the Kundelan deposits, scale 1:2,000 (graphical supplement no. 3) both contained in an unpublished Soviet report by Litvinenko and others...
Using maximum topology matching to explore differences in species distribution models
Jorge Poco, Harish Doraiswamy, Marian Talbert, Jeffrey Morisette, Claudio Silva
2015, Conference Paper
Species distribution models (SDM) are used to help understand what drives the distribution of various plant and animal species. These models are typically high dimensional scalar functions, where the dimensions of the domain correspond to predictor variables of the model algorithm. Understanding and exploring the differences between models help ecologists...
Reactivated faulting near Cushing, Oklahoma: Increased potential for a triggered earthquake in an area of United States strategic infrastructure
Daniel E. McNamara, Gavin P. Hayes, Harley M. Benz, Robert Williams, Nicole D McMahon, R.C. Aster, Austin F. Holland, T Sickbert, Robert B. Herrmann, Richard W. Briggs, Gregory M. Smoczyk, Eric Bergman, Paul S. Earle
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 8328-8332
In October 2014 two moderate-sized earthquakes (Mw 4.0 and 4.3) struck south of Cushing, Oklahoma, below the largest crude oil storage facility in the world. Combined analysis of the spatial distribution of earthquakes and regional moment tensor focal mechanisms indicate reactivation of a subsurface unnamed and unmapped left-lateral strike-slip fault....
Validation of meter-scale surface faulting offset measurements from high-resolution topographic data
Barrett Salisbury, D.E. Haddad, T. K. Rockwell, R. Arrowsmith, C. Madugo, O. Zielke, Katherine M. Scharer
2015, Geosphere (6) 1884-1901
Studies of active fault zones have flourished with the availability of high-resolution topographic data, particularly where airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) and structure from motion (SfM) data sets provide a means to remotely analyze submeter-scale fault geomorphology. To determine surface offset at a point along a strike-slip earthquake rupture,...
A random-walk algorithm for modeling lithospheric density and the role of body forces in the evolution of the Midcontinent Rift
William Brower Levandowski, Oliver S. Boyd, Richard W. Briggs, Ryan D. Gold
2015, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (16) 4084-4107
This paper develops a Monte Carlo algorithm for extracting three-dimensional lithospheric density models from geophysical data. Empirical scaling relationships between velocity and density create a 3D starting density model, which is then iteratively refined until it reproduces observed gravity and topography. This approach permits deviations from uniform crustal velocity-density scaling,...
Habitat selection and survival of pronghorn fawns at the Carrizo Plain National Monument, California
Diego R. Johnson, Kathleen M. Longshore, Chris E. Lowrey, Daniel B. Thompson
2015, California Fish and Game (101) 267-279
On the Carrizo Plain National Monument (CPNM), California, little is known about survival rates and habitat characteristics of pronghorn fawns (Antilocapra americana). A marked decline in pronghorn numbers on the CPNM (from approximately 200 to <30 individuals from 1989 to 2011) prompted a study of fawn habitat use and fawn survival from 2009 to 2011....
Characteristics of sediment transport at selected sites along the Missouri River, 2011–12
David L. Rus, Joel M. Galloway, Jason S. Alexander
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5127
Extreme flooding in the Missouri River in 2011, followed by a year of more typical streamflows in 2012, allowed the sediment-transport regime to be compared between the unprecedented conditions of 2011 and the year immediately following the flooding. As part of a cooperative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey and...
Mapping forest functional type in a forest-shrubland ecotone using SPOT imagery and predictive habitat distribution modelling
Timothy J. Assal, Patrick J. Anderson, Jason Sibold
2015, Remote Sensing Letters (6) 755-764
The availability of land cover data at local scales is an important component in forest management and monitoring efforts. Regional land cover data seldom provide detailed information needed to support local management needs. Here we present a transferable framework to model forest cover by major plant functional type using aerial...
Modeling the development of martian sublimation thermokarst landforms
Colin M. Dundas, Shane Byrne, Alfred S. McEwen
2015, Icarus (262) 154-169
Sublimation-thermokarst landforms result from collapse of the surface when ice is lost from the subsurface. On Mars, scalloped landforms with scales of decameters to kilometers are observed in the mid-latitudes and considered likely thermokarst features. We describe a landscape evolution model that couples diffusive mass movement and subsurface ice loss...
Woodland salamander responses to a shelterwood harvest-prescribed burn silvicultural treatment within Appalachian mixed-oak forests
W. Mark Ford, Kathleen R. Mahoney, Kevin R. Russell, Jane L. Rodrigue, Jason D. Riddle, Thomas M. Schuler, Mary Beth Adams
2015, Forest Ecology and Management (359) 277-285
Forest management practices that mimic natural canopy disturbances, including prescribed fire and timber harvests, may reduce competition and facilitate establishment of favorable vegetative species within various ecosystems. Fire suppression in the central Appalachian region for almost a century has contributed to a transition from oak-dominated to more mesophytic, fire-intolerant forest...
Topographic and hydrographic survey data for the São Francisco River near Torrinha, Bahia, Brazil, 2014
Ryan L. Fosness, Benjamin J. Dietsch
2015, Data Series 965
Navigable inland waterways, including lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, are important transportation routes for people and goods in Brazil. Natural and anthropogenic effects coupled with recent severe droughts have led to decreased inland waterway navigation. The Company for Development of the São Francisco and Parnaíba River Valleys (CODEVASF) has recognized the...
Particle tracking for selected groundwater wells in the lower Yakima River Basin, Washington
Matthew P. Bachmann
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5149
The Yakima River Basin in south-central Washington has a long history of irrigated agriculture and a more recent history of large-scale livestock operations, both of which may contribute nutrients to the groundwater system. Nitrate concentrations in water samples from shallow groundwater wells in the lower Yakima River Basin exceeded the...
1-Meter Digital Elevation Model specification
Samantha T. Arundel, Christy-Ann M. Archuleta, Lori A. Phillips, Brittany L. Roche, Eric W. Constance
2015, Techniques and Methods 11-B7
In January 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Technical Operations Center began producing the 1-Meter Digital Elevation Model data product. This new product was developed to provide high resolution bare-earth digital elevation models from light detection and ranging (lidar) elevation data and other elevation data collected over the conterminous...
Projected future vegetation changes for the northwest United States and southwest Canada at a fine spatial resolution using a dynamic global vegetation model.
Sarah Shafer, Patrick J. Bartlein, Elizabeth M. Gray, Richard T. Pelltier
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Future climate change may significantly alter the distributions of many plant taxa. The effects of climate change may be particularly large in mountainous regions where climate can vary significantly with elevation. Understanding potential future vegetation changes in these regions requires methods that can resolve vegetation responses to climate change at...
Monitoring, field experiments, and geochemical modeling of Fe(II) oxidation kinetics in a stream dominated by net-alkaline coal-mine drainage, Pennsylvania, USA
Charles A. Cravotta III,
2015, Applied Geochemistry (62) 96-107
Watershed-scale monitoring, field aeration experiments, and geochemical equilibrium and kinetic modeling were conducted to evaluate interdependent changes in pH, dissolved CO2, O2, and Fe(II) concentrations that typically take place downstream of net-alkaline, circumneutral coal-mine drainage (CMD) outfalls and during aerobic treatment of such CMD. The kinetic modeling approach, using PHREEQC,...
Taking a systems approach to ecological systems
James B. Grace
2015, Journal of Vegetation Science (26) 1025-1027
Increasingly, there is interest in a systems-level understanding of ecological problems, which requires the evaluation of more complex, causal hypotheses. In this issue of the Journal of Vegetation Science, Soliveres et al. use structural equation modeling to test a causal network hypothesis about how tree canopies affect understorey communities. Historical...
Geologic and geophysical maps of the El Casco 7.5′ quadrangle, Riverside County, southern California, with accompanying geologic-map database
J. C. Matti, D. M. Morton, V. E. Langenheim
2015, Open-File Report 2010-1274
Introduction Earth materials and structures in the El Casco quadrangle provide considerable information about the late Cenozoic geologic evolution of southern California’s Inland Empire region (fig. 2). Important structural and stratigraphic elements include (1) modern traces of the right-lateral San Jacinto Fault zone, (2) older traces of the San Jacinto Fault...
Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California: 2014
Daniel J. Cain, Janet K. Thompson, Jeff Crauder, Francis Parcheso, A. Robin Stewart, Amy E. Kleckner, Jessica Dyke, Michelle I. Hornberger, Samuel N. Luoma
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1199
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer (km) south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in South San Francisco...
Temporal geochemical variations in above- and below-drainage coal mine discharge
Jill E. Burrows, Stephen C. Peters, Charles A. Cravotta III,
2015, Applied Geochemistry (62) 84-95
Water quality data collected in 2012 for 10 above- and 14 below-drainage coal mine discharges (CMDs), classified by mining or excavation method, in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, USA, are compared with data for 1975, 1991, and 1999 to evaluate long-term (37 year) changes in pH, SO42−, and Fe concentrations related...
